Zone 5A High Tunnel build 2012

[Maggie13]

This thread is a re-post of one I put up years ago on another forum I thought maybe it would inspire some of you on the fence about putting one up and extending their growing season and or growing things that are not recommended for their zone also.

November 29th 2012

Ed Person (Ledgewood Farms) personally delivered the greenhouse and spent over an hour going over the details and answering all of our questions.




A few weeks prior Ed told us how to determine positioning the Greenhouse for optimum sunlight..

Our plot was staked out level and square by the time the high tunnel parts arrived.

To start we would need to dig 26 holes.

It was not an easy task. even with a gas powered post hole digger most of holes required hand digging to remove huge stones as we attempted to sink our posts 36:" down.



It was a long afternoon but managed to do 13 holes in 4 1/2 hours.



At the end of day #2 we finished the posts on the north wall, returned the post holer and assembled and set the final bow with lights from the Gator.




Day 3

Ran for 2 X 10 treated lumber for the baseboard and installed the purlins, ridgepole corner braces and crossties.
So far we have about 12 man hours into it.




Day 4
Spent on our knees installing the baseboard on the south side



Day 5

Another day on our knees installing the north wall baseboard and the bolts for the bows( a total of 52 bolts). 26 holes per side had to be drilled through the baseboards




Day 6

A trip to the lumber yard for 2" X 4" to do the end walls unloaded the material and looked through Craig's list . We found 6-windows 40 1/2" wide by 53" tall for $100. Drove out to Perth and pick them up.

With some daylight left we started framing the end walls





Day 7
A quick trip to our local sawmill for rough cut 1 X 10 pine boards for siding and 2 X 4 for the hip boards.




By the end of the day we had finished framing the West side end wall.








Day 8

Sided the West end wall




Day 9

Set up on the east end framed it out and started on the siding..




Day 10

(Thanksgiving morning) We finished up the siding




Day 11:

Installed the hip boards



Day 12
Jim started working on the doors and a cradle for the rolls of plastic.



The winter winds have started so we are in a wait and hope mode for a dead calm day to install the 2 layers of poly.

4 days later The morning is calm so we hurry to get the poly rolled out.

Do not follow Jim's lead.
PLEASE DO NOT EVER stand on the top rung of a ladder It is extremely dangerous



Inspired by the words of MHPgardener (The man that inspired us to put a HT UP) we both said as we started to roll out the plastic: "Here kitty kitty"

Poly on and screwed off at the hip boards.





Day 13

]Next was the bottom rail for the roll up sides, install the windows and to finish the doors.







We were buttoned up for the winter took a deep breath and the following day it looked like this.



Winter had come to Knox



At this point we still have the rake boards and the batting on the east wall to install. Unfortunately a storm dumping over 19" of snow will have to wait until spring.



We set up a weather station to monitor the temperatures at all times . I have set alarms to go off to let me know when the temps in the high tunnel are hovering around 32 and when they climb to 75.

There is so much to learn. And now Jim has an additional 400 ft of snow blowing to add to his winter chores.

WE dug out around the baseboards and put 1" X 12" Styrofoam insulation around the perimeter.


We also amended the soil,ran the tiller and raked out the beds leaving a sitting area for us to soak up some sun in the dead of winter.



NEXT UP Layout for the raised beds:

[USMC130FE]

I just LOVE this post!! I am so jealous but will soon be enjoying a Greenhouse of my own!
Awesome job guys.
Steve-

[PhilaGardener]

Looks great! Pictures from now (10 years later)?

[MissS]

What a nice log on building your greenhouse. You guys did a great job. How has it held up over the years? Do you use it year round?

[Maggie13]

Thanks Steve!
I will add more photos of the improvements over the years PhilGardener
We do grow in it over winter MissS

Mid Feburary of 2013
First germination was Mesclun
Check out the snow on the north wall. The snow works to insulate a bit.



Spring came the snows melted, grass turned green and the trees started to leaf.



My husband built a folding trellis for cucumbers to grow up and to shade and head lettuce and a Pea fence

we put in the 1' X 12" boards for the raised beds.



And added an exhaust fan that runs off a thermostat to control the heat build up at the ceiling.



Ran drip irrigation lines.




Our first season ( 2013) was very productive:











I even tried sweet corn. Planted 4 -1 ft diameter circles with 6 seeds each. It yielded enough for a batch of corn chowder and two dinners that included our fresh corn,



The tunnel is 48 Ft long by 21 ft wide.
It was under $ 4,000 including the top soil, end walls, doors and windows, 1 X12 raised bed material, paint etc

[USMC130FE]

Just beautiful!!